Jack Robert Hardman joined forces with Ray Brooks, and animator Hamish Steele Living in a Watering Can

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Charming animation Living in a Watering Can is released online today.

Caroline Cook chats to its Ascot creator about whether it has what it takes to go viral

An Ascot singer has teamed up with the voice of Mr Benn to create a charming little animation which looks set to take the internet by storm.

Jack Robert Hardman, who is a regular on the Berkshire music scene, joined forces with Mr Benn narrator Ray Brooks, and animator Hamish Steele to create three-minute video, Living in a Watering Can.

The video, which airs on YouTube this week, shows a little man who lives inside a watering can until a group of snails come to help him.

“Basically it started off as a song, the animation idea didn’t come about until a year after I had written it,” explains Jack. “Rob da Bank [Radio One DJ] did a thing on Twitter where he asked people to write a song with this title.

“I was bored and I did it and then I recorded it properly later.

“It was a silly, nonsense song, but the more I listened to it the more it sounded like it should have a children’s video to it.”

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Jack knew animator Hamish through his sister and he approached him to come up with a cartoon to fit the song. He says the idea for the story was 90 per cent down to Hamish, who is also the creator of a series called Dead End which airs on the Cartoon Hangover channel on YouTube.

“It was so much better than I thought it was going to be,” says Jack. “Animation is not something I do at all so I couldn’t picture it. But when I saw it I was excited. It was a lot sweeter than I imagined.”

It was after the animation was completed that the creators realised they needed a certain voice to fit in with the retro, 70s-style feel of the cartoon.

“I had said to Hamish I wasn’t into modern animation, it’s very computer-based and harsh, so I said I want it to be softer around the edges,” explains Jack.

“I thought who can I rope in that would fill that retro role? I used to watch Mr Benn and loved it and I never thought Ray would reply but he did and said yes.

“He got the train down to my house in Sunninghill and recorded it in my spare room and we went for a beer. We’ve met up since then in London too and become friends.

“It was funny, I offered to pay him whatever I could and he said a pint would be fine. He’s a really nice man.”

The video begins with Ray’s iconic story-telling voice, speaking softly as he says: “Life in the can is cold and dark, the nights are endless, the days won’t start. And though the months and years go by, the summer time just won’t arrive.”

The catchy little song and heart-warming story could be enough to send the animation viral, which Jack says “would be a dream come true”.

“That would be fantastic and that’s one of the biggest things, that’s why the internet is killing television, because you can get so much more exposure online,” he says.

“The problem with viral things is, you cannot anticipate it, there’s nothing you can do to work out if it will happen. The weirdest things will take off and some things won’t even touch the surface.”

Jack says the video ‘is a bit of an oddity’ but he’s hoping people will get as much from it as he has.

“It’s a strange little animation,” he says. “I suppose if nothing were to happen and it were just to exist as a three-minute video then I would be very happy because I love it and I’m very happy with it.

“To go forward, if we were to make a series of cartoons around this idea, that would be cool.”